Step Forward
by glittergoddess13
Summary: Dean spares Sam from watching him die & marches into Hell. Sam treks into the fires to save Dean, but how much will Sam lose in the process when his powers grow? Pain! Drama! HurtDean! DemonSam! Torture! LimpDean! AngstSam! Brolove! ProtectiveSam! Bobby!
1. Plans of a dying man

**_Author's note: What happens when you can't decide how to end Dean's deal? You write 2 versions of it. This is Version one and the 2nd one is up too. Step Forward is what happens when Dean takes his fate into his own hands and Step Back will be what happens when Sam takes Dean's fate in his hands. 2 different stories on how Dean's deal will end. Each will be independent of each other so you can read both or either and still follow. Enjoy_**.

**Step Forward**

The racing hands of time ticked away on the cat clock as each eye movement reminded Dean that time was slipping away. That damned thing might as well be taunting him. Look at me take away your last day of life, it mocked. TICK TICK TICK. "Bobby! Could you find a creepier room? That clock is driving me bonkers!"

"Do I criticize your taste in decor? You can pick the motel the next time." Bobby placed a hand on Dean's shoulder, reassuring him. Dean breathed deeply and the breath was so emotionally charged a blind man could have read it from a state away. Yet, being with Sam and Bobby's did bring him a small sense of comfort. But, Bobby was wrong there would be no next time for him.

"Sam?" Dean questioned, watching his brother dash about looking thorough books and spouting theories every second or so.

"Hold on...here there's a legend of the Holy Grail..."

"No more, Sammy. This is it." Dean asked blankly.

"You can't give up."

"I'm not, but I learned when to be a realist from you. I don't want my last day to be like this." He crackled, but held onto his feelings. "I just...I just want to stop for a minute, share a beer with you and Bobby...then, hell, I don't know. Never thought about it ending like this. Just promise me you'll be safe."

"And what about you?"

"I made my choice and no matter how much it pains me... no matter how much I want to fight on... it was worth it."

"It wasn't!"

"Sam..." He cracked harder and his eyes felt glassy, but Dean refused to cry. He didn't know how to say goodbye now, when he never wanted to say it at all.

"Kid, we're not going to give up on you. EVER!"

"I know...and I... I." His voice lost its volume. Glancing at Bobby, he frowned. "Just have a beer with me... JUST one, then back to it...I swear."

Bobby nodded and Dean walked over to the fridge. When Dean had turned from them, Bobby nudged Sam and whispered. "Stop for a second. He needs it. Boys about to jump out of his skin."

"I..."

"We'll fix this I swear."

Dean strutted back with three open beers in his hand. "Here we go...Damn, I wish I had something profound to say, but...to family."

Bobby nodded. "Sounds pretty profound to me."

"Yeah, it does." Sam offered.

Then it was quiet. Three men stared down into beer; all refusing to admit time was running out in less than 24 hours. It was strange that most people wish for one more moment to say things to love ones after they pass, but today with that chance before them all, none of them could make the words seem right.

Dean didn't need them to comfort him. There was no comfort where he was going. But, having them here was the best thing he could ask for. He watched as they sucked down half of the beer. Part of him wanted to stop them and tell them anything. "Bobby? Sam? No matter what...I want you to know what I do today is meant to...show you..."

"We know." Sam smiled cautiously while Bobby tapped Dean's shoulder.

But, they didn't know. Dean was trying to say goodbye, but he was also trying to apologize for the thought rolling in his head and the actions he was about to take. He wasn't sure when it sneaked into his mind. Perhaps it had always been there. Perhaps it was his nature to not go quietly. Perhaps it was his final run in with Bela when he got the colt back. Perhaps it was just blind stupidity. Yet, here it was and it was the best choice he had.

He smiled as Sam finished his beer first. Bobby still nursed his, watching Dean more than the bottle in his hand. "What are you up to, boy? You got this look in your eyes."

"Sorry... just thinking..." That was the truth. He was thinking of how Sam reacted after the damn trickster made his brother watch him die again and again. The look in Sam's eyes haunted him for days on end. The damn demon might as well have destroyed his brother's soul. Dean wondered if that was when he thought of this scheme.

Bobby wobbled. "Whoa, damn, thought I could hold liquor better than this. Guess we do need some breakfast after all. You boys in?" Bobby stood and fell flat on his face, out cold.

"Bobby!" Sam slurred, feeling strangely. He moved his legs to get to his friend, but failed when he slumped to his knees. "Dean, what did you do? Ww...What..." Sam toppled over, landing on his side, his eyes closed tightly.

"Sorry, Sam. Sorry, Bobby. I can't let you watch me die." He knew they wouldn't suspect a roofie in the beer, just as he knew no demon or hunter would ever consider this crazy plan. If hell wanted him, they were about to get him. But, he wasn't waiting like a coward.

**-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-**

Dean jumped in the Impala driving without thought. Countless hours ticked by with each mile, just as annoying as the clock was earlier. The long miles racked up, but he finally reached his destination with some time to spare. He stopped just before the first gravestone, and parked, listening to the engine hum like a forgotten lullaby. He sunk into the seat, thinking of the way the leather fit his body. Finally, he turned off the engine and exited the car. When he went to the trunk to retrieve a can of paint and the colt, he stopped briefly. Digging into his pocket, he found his cell and called Sam.

"Hey, the car… it's…it's at the Devils Gate…Sam…..well, Sam….I…..I love ya… that's all…. Hope it is enough….. DAMN, I'll miss you. Hey, don't let me become… " He stopped, choking up. He couldn't bring himself to say, kill me if I come back a demon. Instead, he hung up and threw the phone in the trunk, gathering the other items and walking towards what looked like an ordinary crypt, but was far more.

He felt a strange pride fill him as he spied the devil's gate for the second time in his life. At least he had righted one wrong in this place and watched that yellow eyed bastard die. He hoped it he could make it two. Pressing the neon orange spray paint to life, he fashioned a devil's trap outside of the gate. Nothing was getting out, only in…. namely him. If hell wanted him so bad, he was marching in fighting. He looked down at the colt once before he went to open his portal into hell.


	2. Into the Fire

**Author's note: A fast chapter…hope you enjoy.**

* * *

"Were you born stupid or did you have too many blows to that thick head of yours?" Ruby commented before Dean had a chance to open the doorway to hell. "What do you think you are going to accomplish with this fool's errand"

He had been too preoccupied to notice he had a stalker. "I suggest you leave me alone. If I'm not sharing this with Sam, I sure as hell don't want to share it with you." Dean uttered through gritted teeth. The last thing he wanted to see today was some damn demon gloating over his demise.

"Be warned. You go through there to a city of woes…eternal pain… the population of loss. Abandon all hope if you enter."

"Awww... how sweet... did you stay up all night thinking of that or did you steal it … never thought anyone would babble poetry… Did you write that for my eulogy? I prefer lymrics myself…all the good ones rhyme with bucket."

"Humor- standard MO for you… good mask for your stupidity.

"Maybe... but... you see, Hell wants me... They are going to get me. You want to come, I hear they have an all you can eat buffet."

"You do realize you will be breaking your deal. Your soul in hell for Sam."

"No one ever said how I was to go. Deal was my soul in hell after one year and it will be, just a bit more of me than they bargained for."

"You can't…"

"Don't tell me you're concerned about Sam. You can be sure he'll…" He stopped when a thought hit him like a meteorite. "That's not why…." His suspicion grew. "Why don't you want me to march in? There's something…."

"Don't be stupid. Sam won't be able to fight…."

"Fight for you…. So, that's what you want. Sam to lead your little army still?? Sorry, sweetheart, it won't be happening. If I have no body to return to, Sam can't bargain for me, can he? That's what you demonic bitches were hoping for… A battle for Sam… He would return the favor when you tried to save me and pony up to the darkside... You can't be serious."

"I'm here to help you both. I saved you once…"

"But why… you don't want Sam to align with Lilith. You want him to fight her on your side of the battle…."

"I'm your friend."

"Sure you are! You lie to Sam about being able to save me. Were you lying to me when you said I'll become a demon? If I forget who I am, how come you know about yourself? Why do you think you have your memories? What's the point of hell if you're a shell? I don't know the game you're playing, but it stops. Tell me, if I go in and leave no hope for Sam to barter…that messes up your plans?"

Ruby's eyes flashed black. "You are dumber than you look."

"I don't have time to figure out your plans, little witch, but Sam won't need you planting ideas in his head."

"I want to help. Remember?"

"But, why… what do you get out of it? Hmm…. Jockeying for power. Deep down you know you can't take Lilith, but you're hoping Sam can. But, why haven't you let him do it yet. What are you waiting for?"

"He has to be ready to kill or be killed."

"No… I don't think so. He is more than ready to defend himself… It's something else. I can see it in your demonic eyes…" Distantly, the sound of hell hounds howled.

"Time's up. If you go in, you are screwing yourself."

"That may be… but you know what…I'll go a lot better knowing I accomplished one thing."

"What's that short fry? Thinking you are giving the ultimate sacrifice for Sam when it will destroy him!"

"No…" He raised the colt and fired, sending a bullet straight to Ruby. "Sparing your host your company and Sam your screwed up demon plans."

A dull impact was heard. The bullet caught Ruby in the chest and she keeled over, electric energy crackling from the wound. The force of the demonic being dying and releasing knocked Dean to his feet. He peeked out and wondered if he might have to fire again, but the body dropped all the way to the ground with a loud thud. With that, he surmised the demon was no more. "Poor girl…" He said as a consolation to the host, who he knew couldn't be in great shape from the long exposure to the demon.

He didn't get time to celebrate the final gift to his brother. He would have felt better if he could have warned Sam or guide him away from any other form of manipulation. That idea was short lived when a pair of sharp claws ripped into Dean's leg. He screamed from the damage the invisible hounds gouged into his calf muscle. Then, a deep wound scrapped into his arm. The damn things were trying to rip his body apart.

He fired a few rounds where he felt claws jab him. He heard a whimper and knew he had just taken down a hell hound. "GOOD… die you bastards." He fired again, he knew Lilith would just send more, but he could at least have this final satisfaction of taking a few down. One less evil in the world. Another one fell with a loud squeal. He only wished he could see the damn things dying by his hand. "Tell momma I don't appreciate her babies." He yelled at the howls of the other dogs.

When he kept them at bay for a minute, he pushed the gun into the slot, letting the gears whirl and whine as they released. As the doorway opened a flock of demons attempted to pour from the portal, but were held from going further by the devil's trap. This was as far as they were getting into the world. He took a breath, closed his eyes, and walked through the gate straight into hell.

First, he felt strange, war m but not hot, and then there was a burning in his gut. He could move, but not control his appendages. As he realized why his body had a will of its own, he gasped black smoke into his aching lungs.

"You fool!" he heard a multitude of voices sing in a discordant choir. Demons hissed and pulled at him as if they were going to draw and quarter him. "More pain! More pain. Human… more pain." The demonic voices screamed as if they were alerting all hell to his presence. "HUMAN… HUMAN! MORE PAIN! MORE PAIN!"

And by hell, they were telling the truth. The agony inside of Dean increased to the likes he never dreamed possible. It was as if every atom in his body were set on fire.

* * *

**Author's note: Okay, I don't really hate Ruby or love her either, but she is the only character who hasn't died (yet-that we've seen- our dear writers are like Natural Born Killers on the page!). Dean has died (a lot), Sam's died, John died, Meg died, Gordon died, Jess died, any woman who has sex with Sam died (lesson…banging Sam is bad for your health but what a way to go), Mary died, all the special kids died, Dean died (some more), YED died , Dean died (again), and heck Bobby even died in the Trickster episode. I know there are tons more, but you get the idea. So…I think it's rightfully her turn. :D Plus, its part of my plot... :)  
**


	3. Rebirth

* * *

**REBIRTH**

* * *

"DEAN!" Sam shot up, fully awake, glancing around the room like a frantic mother bear looking for a cub.

"He's gone." Bobby said softly and remorsefully. It was evident he had been waiting for Sam to regain consciousness.

"No…. where…"

"It's too late. Time's up."

"Don't… no… don't…"

"I don't know what happened, but we both were knocked out. Guess he slipped us something. Stupid, kid…he…he… "

"He wouldn't…"

"You've been out for a while. I didn't finish my beer and you drank more than I did. He left these for you…" Bobby held out Dean's jacket and necklace."Found them folded on the table when I woke up."

"No….he would never leave those behind."

"I… I don't think…" Bobby cracked "… I don't think he could take them with him… Damn it! He….he left us….." Bobby tried to think of comforting words. "There's a call on your cell…I didn't have the heart to listen to it without ya." Bobby held the phone in his other hand, offering it to Sam.

Sam grabbed it as if the message could bring Dean back. Bobby leaned in close. "Hey, the car… it's…it's at the Devils Gate…Sam…..well, Sam….I…..I love ya… that's all…. Hope it is enough….. DAMN, I'll miss you. Hey, don't let me become… "

"I'm sorry, Sam. We'll…" Bobby said, eyes welling with water.

"We're going. NOW!" Sam demanded.

-#-#-#-#-#-#

* * *

When they pulled in next to the Impala, both of their hearts sank. Seeing the empty car was the ultimate betrayal. "Why did he come here? Why…"

"I don't know… but….if he's still here somewhere…let's find him." Bobby didn't want to say let's find his body, which seemed too hard to imagine. While all of him hoped Dean had some mysterious way to save himself, he feared it was a way for Dean to exit without watching Sam desperately try to save him. All he knew was that if Dean was okay, he was going to kick that boy's ass so hard he wouldn't be able to sit for a month, right after he hugged the hell out of him.

They exited Bobby's junker Mustang cautiously as if they were expecting a battle. As they drew near they saw the gate wide open with demons trying to break through to the human world.

"NO!" They both screamed and sprinted towards the opening, Bobby lagging behind Sam's long and forceful strides. Sam hit the door first, pushing with all his might. Bobby joined him and after some effort they closed the door to the demon world.

"What the hell happened here!" Bobby yelled, noticing the trap in front of the gate. "Someone wanted to make sure none of the demons escaped, but why would you open it then."

"Bobby, you don't think…"

"No… he wouldn't give up. No one in their right mind would go…..He wouldn't do that to us…not now."

Then they both heard a groan, soft and weak. "Dean!? " Sam shrieked waiting for the moan to rise again. And when it did, his hopes were dashed. The source of the moan was barely moving; and when it did all he saw was a woman, twitching on the ground.

"Ruby?' Bobby gave Sam a quizzical look. Each of them approached carefully, wondering if there had been a battle here with Dean and Ruby making a stand side by side, as farfetched as it sounded. Had Ruby actually tried to save Dean like she said she would?

Sam rolled her over and nestled her in his arms. Finding the bullet wound near her heart had created the opening for the large pool of blood that was seeping into the ground. He knew the end was near.

"Sam?" She said.

"Hold on, little girl." Bobby said, aware that the demon was gone, knowing the colt had to be the reason.

"No use…safe now… Dean saved me."

"Dean did this? Why?"

"He knew…" The young woman said. "She was using you…wanted to stop him…from going …."

"From going where?" When she sucked in a breath and didn't answer, he spoke so forcefully it scared Bobby. "FROM GOING WHERE?" Sam's eyes flashed with a coldness that didn't go unnoticed by his companion. "He didn't…..He didn't….HE DIDN'T GO INTO HELL!! You're lying!"

"Sam? The demon's dead. She's not"

"To save…to save you." She muttered as she shook. "Demon….knew….you could….get him back if….Hell."

"What!! How? Ruby said there was a way… do you know?"

"Tracked it…car…book… have to follow…" With that she stole a large breath and collapsed in Sam's arms. He let her slide from his grasp onto the ground, his mind racing.

"Help me search for that book?" Bobby offered the blank faced Sam. "Sam? Sammy?"

He stood and marched to the gate, falling to his knees at the closed door. Sam's hand flew up to the colt, ready to turn it to open the portal.

"NO!" Bobby said. Sam wasn't aware Bobby had joined him until that moment. "NO! I can't lose both of you boys. We can't just go without a plan."

"He needs me…" Sam's fingers clawed at the stone of the crypt door, imagining his fingers ripping the door apart grain by grain.

Bobby grabbed him and hugged him tight. "You aren't going in there- not until we know what Ruby was up to and why she wanted to stop him from going. Boy, I love him too. You know I do…. I owe him big. But, I won't let you keep going in this sacrifice circle. NO more…we do this smart. Ruby had a way, but she didn't want us to know. We figure it out, then we get him back."

Sam didn't move nor return Bobby's embrace. He was numb, locked in a void of loss. "No."

"Son, if I have to I'll hog-tie you, I will. Give me a day, then we will do it your way. Hell, we'll both march in after him. I want to get him now too, but failing would only ensure him more pain and suffering. You don't want that. He wouldn't want that. He didn't want the demons to win. We go now, we have no idea what will happen."

Somewhere the pleading of Bobby reached the softer part of Sam or at least the fear of failing Dean. "One day…then….I'm going… and you won't be able to stop me with an army."

"Come on…let's go find that book and see what that demon was up to." Bobby sighed in relief, but held on to Sam for just a bit longer.

-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-

* * *

Dean awoke, or he thought he did, but it was like being born with every cell damaged. He wasn't sure if it was possible to black out in eternal damnation, thinking it defeated the eternal part of the equation.

"Welcome back" a demon hissed. "You're not too wise are you?"

"They keep telling me that." Dean answered despite the pain. He figured correctly. He had been out, but to where he had no idea. Vaguely, he could recall some ungodly amount of agony in the darkness, but now that he was alert he couldn't name it.

The demon stood and began to pace a circle around the Dean. Its footsteps were slow, deliberate. "Do you not realize what hellfire does to humans? You must like pain."

"Oh yeah and lots of it. Nothing like that live rendition of Ishtar I saw once, but it will do."

"Dean, Dean, Dean. Always an answer for everything, but you have no idea what you have done."

"Yeah and what makes you an expert" Dean strangled out, his throat thick.

"I am the keeper of the hellfires…"

"Oh yeah… give me a moment… This one was in Spawn…I think…xanax… exlax… or something."

You may call me Xaphan."

"I like Hellboy better."

"And I have been waiting so long for you. I'm supposed to give you the special treatment. So would you like extra crispy or original recipe?"

As he thought of a retort, Dean's throat grew thick and began to suffocate.

"Ah… and again…"

"STOP…."

"Not that I want to stop any pain for you, but this one is not my doing. This one is all from your own mistake. You see…. Human flesh doesn't belong in hell, so you just get to experience your body dying and being reborn again and again. Dying in pain, born in pain, and living in it for all eternity. You can't really die here, so you just get to repeat the agony of your soul trying to escape your dying body only to have it trapped in a rotting shell. Then when it has had enough, the body dies and renews. Your body is being reborn."

"You trying to scare me?" He coughed.

"Haven't even started yet."

Dean would have spat it if he'd had the energy.

Xaphan knelt beside him, tangling long fingers into his short hair. "No, human. You will suffer as no other has ever suffered until you beg to serve us. Can you remember your name? Do you know you are suffering for a brother who would turn to darkness before your body would have been cold."

"I'm Captain America…and you must be shit weasel."

"No, your name is servant. You are not who you think you are. You are not a solider defending your family. You have given up. You are not a man, but a toy for us now."

Dean felt exhausted, confused and disoriented. In this state, his beliefs seem less solid. When would the games end? He opened his eyes to look upon his captor. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing," he breathed harshly. There was a strange thickness around him- black, solid, but liquid too. But, like none he had ever seen. It was cutting into him, seeping as if he were a sponge soaking up water. It was liquid fire, cutting ribbons of flesh from him as the demon was trying to dehumanize him.

The demon grinned. "Ah, the beauty of torment is that it works even if you understand what is being done. And there are a host of us waiting to get claws in you." Xaphan jerked Dean's hair, forcing him to get up. Dean was too weak to fight back as the demon emerged and pushed a vaporous hand through his guts. When his punisher finished, Dean collapsed, passing through the strange substance around him. He descended like a man floating to the bottom of the pool, but this one seemed to be full of glass and needles.

But the pain wasn't the worst of it. The worst part was the memories running in his mind. Ruby had lied. You don't forget who you are. You remember it all so clear, knowing you will never have it again. But, maybe that was just him.

Then he heard voices. For a moment he thought they were in his head, but they weren't. He could hear soft crying nearby, and looked up to see who was making the sorrowful noise. It was then that he noticed a throng of others, who received torture as he was. Most of them crying for some loved one to save them.

"Do you think you can save those souls, Dean? " Xaphan asked. "Isn't that what you do? You're skills are useless here. You can't save anyone."

"I can try." He pulled himself up on unsteady legs, and then looked down to the jagged wounds that marred his body.

Black eyes stared up at Dean with hope as if they believed he could start a riot of souls trapped in some deal they didn't understand. His shadowy captor came to stand beside him with many more surrounding and hurting other souls.

Xaphan's claws stained red. He caressed ugly looking talons that looked like serrated blades. Without warning he drove the sharp point into Dean's rib cage, twisting as he went.

Trying to get a hold of himself, acutely aware of his own weakness, Dean pulled a punch. The impact meaningless, he was thrown back against the pit. He kept trying to get a take on his surroundings, but the pain made it difficult. He told himself to give it time; he would get the lay of the land eventually and use it to crawl back out of his place.

"You are making this so much more fun. Get up," Xaphan commanded, his voice carrying a warning that more torture was to come

Dean wiped blood from his lips, and fought his way to his feet, wishing somewhere inside they would just kill him and get it over with. If he could die and be reborn, it would be worth it at this point. He could use a moment to regroup his thoughts.

Xaphan cocked his head, then abruptly slammed his fist into the ribs, breaking them. "It's so much more fun to have a body to damage." A gaggle of demonic onlookers gathered, watching the punishment to Dean's earthly body.

Dean stumbled. He tried to yell and struggle, but the demon held him pinned, cupping a hand over his mouth. The claw thru his sternum and he felt the bone crack. He collapsed, but knew he could not stay down when the speaker growled, jerked him up, and held him forward by the back of the neck. "Let's see how much you can take before you die again!"


	4. Demon Plans

**-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x--x**

Eternity! Funny how that sounds to a man without a sense of time but the rest of his sensations was more than aware. It already felt like forever as the demon tortured him, but the feeling of being lost in a mass of others was overwhelming. At times, he wondered if they would pull him under to some other unforeseen hell. Dean's body was stiff with tension, aching in exhaustion and stress. He looked up into the demon's face bleakly.

"It gets harder every time, doesn't it, servant?" the Xaphan said. "You know how many of us are waiting to get a crack at you? Can you hear the souls naming all the mistakes you have made? You are are too weak to fight us. Everything you ever touched has turned out wrong. Can you feel your body dying?"

"No." He lied. "Feels pretty good…nap time for me." But, it wasn't restful. As his body grew thick, somewhere deep inside of him, there was a banging. Not like a door, but like a fluttering moth caught inside a jar with the hottest light source burning away its wings. Part of him wanted to rip away, but it was stuck in the tar like mess of his body.

"You give in so easily." The demon repeatedly and mercilessly attacked the trapped hunter for every thought that passed Dean's mind or any action the man attempted in defense. "I will wear you down because you aren't strong enough."

All the voices moaning and groaning in pain and fear, the noises the souls made were like splinters to his heart. Dean struggled as the demon held him back, making him look at the flood of souls cramped together. He moaned once, and then stopped fighting. "This is what you get human." Xaphan slammed a fist into Dean's back. Dean fell back down even as the demon began beating him. He felt his arm break and thought perhaps he would die now or again. No matter how many times it happened now, his body always shocked at the final gasp before death. He anticipated it, thinking Xaphan was finally going to kill him.

But he didn't. When it was done, when he lay gasping for air and fighting to remember how long he had suffered. The demon knelt at his side once more. He gripped Dean's hair and pressed his mouth near Dean's ear. "Almost there. Can you feel the spirit inside of you banging to get out of your dying body. Do you know the pain it will cause inside of you as you die? Death is coming for you, servant. And when you return, I'll be waiting too."

-**xx-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

* * *

The gold amulet whirled in Sam's rough fingers so frequently; he could have rubbed the callus off of his fingers. He couldn't really remember how they got back to the motel, but he could recall the sensation of Dean's jacket on his shoulders and the necklace around his own neck. Bobby had placed them there when the returned. It got his attention at least.

When they first arrived, he had taken out Ruby's blade and tossed it around. He supposed their oldest friend found it disturbing when Sam flipped it for too long.

Bobby glanced at Sam, watching the young man carefully. He had witnessed a glimmer of something at the gate and it was worth more than a passing curiosity to find out what. The older man didn't say anything, but he had watched Sam extra carefully since that time.

Sam pulled the jacket tighter, find the shoulders a bit too snug, but he didn't mind. He rubbed the gold object again. He fixated on those sensations, not speaking, eating, or even crying now. He was just a man going through the motions of breathing without purpose. The feelings returned as they had been when that Trickster had showed him Dean's death. Maybe this is what that bastard meant to accomplish, relish in the fact his little game had come to pass. He formed a death list- a hit list on sorts- in his mind. Lilith, the trickster...they would all pay. At that moment, Sam vowed to let the softer side of him die. Because if he didn't, he would feel the pain of losing Dean so acutely, even his breath would cease. He finally understood his father. When you have nothing to lose, all you have is revenge.

Bobby glanced at the quiet man. He could try to comfort the kid, but what was there to say. Instead he focused on Ruby's book and strange notes, lots of scribbles in Latin marking other passages, lots of interpretations, and conclusions. He could use Sam's brain right about now, but it didn't seem to be connected. "Hey Sammy? Take a look at this?"

He received no response other than the constantly passing of the necklace between Sam's large fingers. Bobby continued reading, letting the hours pass as he figured it all out. Finally, when he put all the notes together, he found an answer he didn't like. "Sam? Those visions of yours….you have any recently."

Nothing. Not a word.

"It's important. Tell me….do you still feel the…"

"No."

"Back at the gate... I saw…"

"No…"

"Then you explain that outburst. You…."

"YES! ALRIGHT! And I plan on using it to kill all those bastards. Make them all pay."

Bobby started when the voice didn't sound like Sam's. "Kid, you should have told us. Ruby was watching you for it."

"I'm in control… there wasn't time."

"Make time. I need to know if you can control yourself. Cause right now… I'd say no."

"I'm FINE!"

"Yeah, that is why you sound like Damian on acid. All that is missing is a 666. You answer me, boy."

"I ANSWER TO NO ONE!" Sam eyes flashed over like glacial ice before he gasped and shifted to his normal tone. "Bobby, I'm sorry."

"Guess you answered that question. You should have told us, we could have looked out for you."

"I don't need help with me, I need help with Dean."

"Well, if you care to join me in this, it'll help you understand. Ruby was working for someone…my best bet is Mastema. She mentions that name and Lilith's over several passages in these refrains. Along with yours and Dean's." Sam didn't move, so he walked over to the man and plopped the book into his lap. "Take a look. Ruby was doing some research on the prophecies of Nostradamus. She found a pattern of some refrains with some mightier math than I can't figure out. But, take a look at the passages and the notes…seems the prophecies of Nommy boy were less predictions than a how to guide of demonic domination for our friend Ruby."

"I don't understand."

"Here… Through anger and internal hatreds, the exiles, will hatch a great plot against the king: Secretly they will place enemies as a threat, his own old adherents find sedition against them." Ruby marked it as 1. She has several passages numbered through the book. Look at her translation."

Sam grabbed the book. "With the fall of general, his chosen leader will lead the winning faction. Demons must ban around Sam. Control Dean Equals control Sam."

"She was playing us, kid. Seems we have a power play between Lilith and Mastema.

"The deaths of the firstborn of the Egyptians during Moses' time are attributed to Mastema. He's old biblical lore and…"

"So's Lilith. Demonic tug-of-war with you two in the middle. Go to the passage labeled as 2."

"Two royal brothers will wage war so fiercely, That between them the war will be so mortal, That both will occupy the strong places: Their great quarrel will fill realm and life…. … Bobbby….. uh…No offense, but these can be made into anything. They are just vague prophecies."

"Maybe, but the demons believe them and if they do, we know their movements. Read on."

"Dean must fall to Lilith- solider in her army. Sam fight against her….Dean must die at the end…. Too risky to ..."

"Notice the passage… brother vs. brother. They were setting you up. Ruby picks up the pieces to help you defeat Lilith and rewards your efforts by offing Dean too. Playing all sides."

"DAMN IT. They are playing with human lives for some bit of nonsense in a book…"

"Their demons, they don't have to make sense, but there is another set of passages marked. It doesn't follow the same line. Like a sub clause in the demon plan." Bobby grabbed the book and read aloud to Sam, who sat in disbelief any of this could be real. Dean being in hell was unreal enough for him, but to find out it was all over some words written and interpreted by demons was too much.

"The body without a soul no longer at the sacrifice.  
At the day of death it is brought to rebirth.  
The divine spirit will make the soul rejoice

seeing the eternity of the word.

The phoenix over the city of the Sun,

will deliver a nocturnal omen:

By the shaven head a very bad choice will come to be made,

Overburdened he will pass the gate:

He will speak with such great fury and rage,

That to fire and blood he will consign.

Near a great bridge near a spacious plain

the great lion with the Imperial forces

will cause a falling outside the austere city.

Through fear the gates will be unlocked for him.

Mars threatens us with the force of war,  
and will cause blood to be spilt seventy times"

"Dean?"

"Yeah…a body without a soul no longer to sacrifice"

"Dean marched into hell."

"And Ruby wanted to stop it. Sam, he's not dead… he's alive and in hell. Ruby figured it all out. He fulfilled his deal. His soul is in hell, but he messed up Lilith's and Ruby's …..Or Mastema's plans. We can get him out."

"How? Let's do it now."

"You won't like it."

"I don't care."

"You have to go get him."

"YOU STOPPED ME BEFORE. I could have..."

"You have to let the demon blood in you take over. That's the way Ruby had, but she wanted to keep you from that and keep Dean from pulling this stunt. She had to know your brother would not go quietly and try something. But, you pass in there as a human and you are as stuck as Dean. He wouldn't want you to risk it."

"He doesn't get a vote in this. I get to be selfish for once."

"According to this…you could lose all that makes you human. Ruby didn't want this to happen because you would be after Dean and not join their team. It wasn't to save your soul or Dean's that she theorized this… and it's so much wors… "

"I'm going. That passage tells me he is in pain. How can I let him stay there?"

"Then, I'll be there to help you, but you better be prepared for the worst."

"What could be worse!"

Bobby was quiet. "God, I hope this is wrong, but…"

"WHAT?"

"According to these notes, Dean is dying and being remade over and over again. Sam he's going through…"

"Hell! He is going through hell. Bobby, I have to do this."

"Then we better find a way for you to hold on to the good part of you. You let that demon blood take over and …."

"I have all I need…" Sam toyed with the necklace again. "No demon or demon blood will ever control me again. "When, I get him back you can do what you need to get me back or kill me."


	5. Follow

_**Author's note: Sorry so short today, but Dean and Sam are on in 13 minutes! gets Kleenex and nurples ready for SN**_

* * *

Fire, chaos, and pain rolled around Dean. This was his new realm, a personal world of pain. The demon was right. When his body finally started to give in, he felt his soul screaming inside of him like an internal banging creature trying to gnaw its way out. Several times now this had happened. He wasn't sure how long he had been here a minute- a day- a year. He knew only that he did nothing to deserve this kind of torture, yet his captors seem hell-bent on making him full of anger, bitterness, and violence.

"Humans. So inclined to be ruled by any emotion. You don't crumble so easy. Most of them give in way before now. Pain before pleasure, my friend." Xaphan's malevolent weapon made it difficult for Dean to breathe as claw was forced in the flat of his stomach. He knew it wasn't only Xaphan clawing at him. A phalanx of demons flanked him, providing damage to his body. As if hellfire itself wasn't enough.

The next blow made Dean's head swim. It took him a moment to realize he was really in a pit, like a crater of the moon, only filled with liquid fire. He would have liked to call it lava but it burned cold. Dean didn't really have words to describe the flames of hell. All he knew was it had no bounds. It sank into you regardless how you tried to protect yourself. Throngs of people surrounded him, each taking the same punishment as him-Each of them clinging to some memory of their life to remind them of a time without pain.

That had to be the worse, thinking of your most peaceful memory, only to know you would never see another. Hands clawed at him. Some other souls fighting to crawl out, but mostly demons warping the mind and inflicting pain on those not yet warped enough to serve hell. Dean supposed it was demonic revenge for their own pain of being trapped in hell.

Then another jagged clawed hand reached for him, pulling him from the masses, slashing his torso. "You're my favorite you know. The high and mighty Winchesters. Not so glib now are you."

He clenched his arms over his wounds, anything to keep from falling into a vulnerable position. Then, he was struck again. "I do enjoy watching you die. Let go of who you are and this can all end. Sam's no longer the chosen. Lilith wants you at her side. No pain for you there- just glory. You've felt how it's like to be second fiddle to Sam."

"No… shut up… no"

A snide chuckle could be heard from the figure trapping Dean, almost as if he were calling others to beat the captive man. And they did, strike after strike. Dean clawed at the liquid hellfire in front of him. The black substance of extreme heat cold fawned over his body in great waves. His eyes were clenched against what he assumed to be the horrid visage of his flesh burning away to reveal muscle and bone for the liquid heat to feed upon. He was already ready to let his body die again if only for the momentary end to this, not that it wouldn't start up again.

The heat died away, and although the scent of smoke stung his nostrils, his body quavered with shock and his chest fell at a rapid pace. He melded into the thought of death allowing it to swallow him whole.

"Don't worry; you won't die again for a bit." With that, Xaphan yanked hard on Dean's head. The hunter stumbled clumsily forward. His heart was pounding against his ribs. He could feel the beat in his throat, and it could not be soothed by his futile attempts at controlling his breath. Dean opened his mouth to let the toxins-the poison fumes that filled the air take over his lung. "No more!" He demanded. He wanted to call for Sam. But he was completely lost and alone.

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x—x-x-x**

* * *

"Sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah, just open the door and clear out. I'll make it back."

"How do you think you are going to control the demon blood?"

"I've had practice."

"When"

"A little run in with the Trickster. Gave me some experience to draw on." Sam closed his eyes and focused on the endless run of days in the fake world, the one without his brother. And it was more than enough to squash the softer side within him.

When Sam's eyes glowed solid silver, Bobby knew the boy he knew would forever be changed by letting this happen and he hoped it would all be worth it. Bobby could feel the vehement emotions from where he stood and tried to simply pretend not to be effected by it, but he couldn't help but sidle to the side so he was not quite so near to Sam. Bobby swore he felt heat emanating from his now deadly friend.

Sam took a step forward and moved inside of the Devil's trap- the one Dean had drawn earlier.

"WAIT! I'll let you out…"

Before Bobby could finish his thought, Sam stepped out without a moment of hesitation. The older hunter gasped, Sam couldn't be held by conventional demonic means. The devils trap was as useless to stop him as the blades of grass on the graves could stop the rain.

Bobby broke the silence with sigh. "Sam? Be careful…"

"Cut the crap." The new Sam replied harshly. "I don't need your sympathy!" Sam was glaring with the rage in his eyes. Ruby's blade flashed in Sam's hand. He focused his energy and the gate before him shook and rumbled. Suddenly, the heavy door flew ten feet in the air and landed with a loud bang. Hordes of demons rolled out, seeking freedom from the hell below.

"Shit boy…. Did you do that?" Sam…please."

Silver eyes with slits like a diamond back flicked Bobby's direction for a moment Bobby felt the air around him stop. Air would not go in his lungs and for a brief moment he started at Sam with pleading eyes. Finally, Sam brought his hands to his chest and fingered an object. He smiled wickedly and let his body relaxed. He let his arms fall idly by his side and his back straighten and turned in a gesture of peace to Bobby.

"Keep hold of yourself." Bobby was speaking but Sam didn't appear to be listening. He was steadily approaching Bobby, who continued to issue warnings. It was only when Sam placed his hands firmly on Bobby's that he stopped talking.

"I'm ready. Dean's waiting." With that he let go of his friend, balled his hands together and mentally pushed through the rush of demon's trying to escape back in with only the powers of his mind. With that, he walked into the opening and into the bowels of hell to find his brother.


	6. Fallen

Sharp recollections of a life without pain kept Dean going, but it made the power of hell even more damning. It was as if he could imagine going back to the good times, but time after time was denied the possibility. He was a beggar at hell's table, filled and brimming with food, but his hands were tied.

In the darkest recesses of his mind, in all he had imagine or done, he never knew it would be like this. Every regret ran through his head. Things he should have said and done. Part of him wondered if he was good enough to make it to heaven. "Heaven... you never admitted to believing in Heaven" he told himself. He didn't ask for a second chance now, what would be the point of that. He didn't even feel worthy of peace anymore. He sealed his own fate and begging seemed pointless. No use in begging at Hell or Heaven's table now.

Save for one thought. He was sure it wasn't precedent for a man in hell to ask God for many things. He was sure that selfish prayers had been uttered by the millions, but he found himself asking for Sam to be safe. So for what it was worth, he silently made that wish. But, would anything or anyone listen to soul damned in hell. It would be nice to feel he didn't deserve hell for his past actions, but he wasn't so sure how good of a person he really was. Suddenly, he realized there was no point in arguing that in his head either. He sold his soul and it didn't belong to him. No matter how good or how bad his life had been, that trumped any judgment for his actions.

The demon felt Dean reach a breaking point, not longer really aware of what was hurting him, but aware of only the pain- so much pure pain. "Join us."

"SAMMY!!" He called hoping for his brother, and then he reminded himself he didn't want Sam in here with him.

"He can't help you. This is his fault. You came here for him, but I can help you. I can end this pain. Just let your spirit fall to the darkness. Stop fighting. I know the way to crawl out and you're skills…"

"Nooooo..." he muttered.

"Do you need a demonstration of how I can protect you?" Xaphan stopped his torment. "Shh… easy… see the pain is not so bad now is it? Do you want the pain to stop?"

"Yes!" Dean cried, trying to find comfort, but only finding a lesser degree of pain. Even that seemed monumental at this second.

"Then join us. You have to give in."

"NO….I….No!" Dean cried as his limbs began thrashing madly at his enemy. "Lemme go!" Dean had been throttled too many times. The way these demons treated him, Dean was little more than a ball to be tossed around at their pleasure. For a brief second, he couldn't help but 

wonder if the rest of his life would be spent like this. A human shell pushed about to make the evil beings around him howl with glee, only to be tormented to bring about their desired level of pain.

Part of him wanted to free the idiots like him who got suckered into a Faustian bargain. His mind floated to John, wondering if his father had suffered like this for all those months- suffered like this for him. Finally, he felt a pull on his mind. Death was coming again and it was more than welcome.

Before he could utter another word, Xaphan grinned savagely. "Time to go…so soon." Xaphan said. Then, without warning, the blackness grew thick. Dean was getting his reprieve. Not that it came without his own pain later, but to be unaware for a moment was better than anything in hell, which was saying a lot considering it was hell.

The blackness was so dense that Dean could not see Xaphan moving in front of him. He had died here before and each time a sense of fear came over him as if everything in this place was out for his blood and wouldn't be content until they had the last of it. A thumping rattled in his rib cage- Panic-sheer terror that his soul was trapped deep inside of him.

**--xxxxxxxx--**

* * *

When Sam first entered the gates, his mind was clear, as was his purpose. Heat burned all around him-strange like a liquid gel of heat and not at all like he expected. His immediate reaction was to run. The thought that being surrounded by hellfire made the flight response click in loud and clear. Yet somehow, this sensation was familiar as if he had always known it. The fires of hell burned at him, but he ignored the pain. This fire was good somehow. Revitalizing. He felt something within him surge as if he didn't exist before the fire touched him. He felt reborn. His skin was unmarred and perfect.

Suddenly, he realized the liquid parted for him as if it read his mind and bent to his will, forming a path at his discretion. When the black fire settled down into nothingness, he stepped forward. It was truly a pit, but layers upon layers of pits with throngs of people calling out in pain. Some were chained, others were falling all the time, others trampled in massive crowds of souls, and some seemed to have power to torment others. The souls looked charred like they had been burning for some time or nuked. Still, there were ones that kept their earthly appearance. Some pondered if those were the newer souls to enter hell. He would have normally felt fear, facing all of these odds, but he felt calm. No, he corrected. He felt superior. It was the oddest of sensations. Sam knew the right thing always was humility, yet he couldn't bring that emotion to the surface. "You're better" he muttered and the welling of pride in him grew.

He heard some movement behind him and jumped towards the side. The fire moved with him, obeying his commands. He peered towards the source of the sound. A tall, pale humanoid stood, watching his every move. He was frail with a large hollow eyes and wings like a raven. Sam knew he had been seen, but he didn't attempt to hide. He stepped forward, slowly walking closer to creature. For some reason, he felt as though he would be safe doing so. After all, he was superior.

Then the most hallow appearing images passed by him- spirits called into action by the winged man before him. When the first spirit approached him, he didn't hesitate. He slashed with Ruby's blade, destroying it instantly. The winged creature peered out, inspecting Sam's ability with the demonic knife.

Then a second, a third and a forth demon approached and he killed them just as quickly. He didn't care what they wanted. When a fifth came forward, begging for help, Sam's hand was just as swift. Distantly he thought he should feel pity for the trapped souls, but he didn't. If he had to turn all the souls in hell into nothing, Dean would make it back.

Suddenly, the pale man opened his sharp taloned hand for a second as if he was offering a truce to Sam, but he whirled into action. His raven wings unfolded and flew towards his prey. Its razor claws gripped into Sam's torso, drawing deep long gouge scratches into the flesh.

"Sam Winchester!" the creature smirked. "Today must be hell's lucky day… Two for one… actually three for one Winchester special!"

"What do you want! Give me my brother!" Sam didn't notice the gashes on his torso were actively sealing.

"Sam, you don't want Dean. You want power." The attack had been a test to see how far along Sam was in his powers. And from the display, the creature knew Sam 's demon blood was taking over at an alarming rate. "You can feel it. You have been reborn to us... A we have waited so long, brother. Rejoin the Fallen."

"I have no intentions of joining any of you. Take your fallen asses back to the pit."

"Were were once allies, but you had to seek God's forgiveness and live out a mortal life. We have waited for the right time for centuries. You are the chosen." The Fallen said.

"You're one of the original fallen angels from..."

"As is a part of you."

Even though he fed Sam his best rhetoric, it bothered the fallen demon lord that a Sam had dared to enter Hell. He knew he had to act fast before Sam figured out the power at his disposable, which would grow in this pits to the likes that even the devil hadn't see. Humans weren't allowed in the gates of hell, let alone a demonic one given the powers of both words. Dean had already broken the rules, but the vast outnumbering of demons to him wouldn't allow any damage to hell's hierarchy. However, one with the powers of a Fallen would- Worse, the powers of a Fallen without the demonic barriers- The best of both worlds. It wouldn't be long before it happened either. For every moment Sam lived, a fear rose in hell.

"It's about time you came down." A twitch was the first reflex at the sound. "I can show you such sights and you can save Dean if you do. Only you can do that. Let me be your guide."

"Don't think so... too Lord Vader for me...I think I'll have Dean and kill you too." he defied, flicking his wrist concealing the knife.

"How nice of you to come unannounced and uninvited. Get the hell out." The demon toyed with him

"Oh, I was invited. In fact, Dean invited me."

The grin that pushed onto the Sam's face was enough to make the demon want to strangle him. But he kept his cool. He had to until he could get close enough to use Sam's own knife against him or feed the darkness in Sam until he was an ally. Death or joining were the only chances the Fallen had. He needed to end it here and now or delay Sam's cause until the darkness consumed him.

Sam began to envision the destruction of hell and it wasn't too far from his current desire. "Don't worry, I won't be long as soon as you give me my brother."

The fallen couldn't help back away from a man who had sent countless of their numbers back to hell, even if you didn't count the ones that outright ceased to exist, it numbered in the thousands. The Winchester family were stronger and smarter than the average hunter. Suddenly, the Fallen didn't want to be so close to Sam. Strike and run seemed to be the better choice of tactics.

Sam grinned before he walked nearer and stopped only a foot from the creature. Even though he couldn't see them, he felt a congregation of demons and spirits gathering near. He could feel the edge on which they teetered and a slight growl produced from his throat, telling them to stay out of his way. If the demons tried anything, Sam would take them out in seconds. He would kill them all. He had the means. His eyes opened, glowing solid silver. There was no Sam, just the demon blood inside of him taking over, showing his power as alpha demon. All thoughts of Dean became remote, distant.

What happened next was almost a blur, watching something bright unsheathe from out of nowhere and attack. The Fallen didn't stand much of a chance. He tried backing off, but those few steps were nothing compared to Sam's ability with a knife. Blood dripped at the deep cut, ripping off his wings without mercy. The Fallen screamed in pain, as its wings still quivered as if they were connect. Then Sam drew the weapon and stabbed the creature at the base of the skull, pointing the blade upwards to rattle any mind the Fallen might have had.

It was then more demons reacted, quickly charging toward Sam, who grinned like a maniac seeing the wounded man with sheered wings. "Weakling! The all powerful original Fallen!" Those words span in head, unable to think of anything else. He could kill the original evil, leaving a permanent scar on hell. Sam had issued a warning and the Fallen was a reminder to any demon, soul, or creature that challenged him. He would leave them all ravaged and bleeding.

It was rare violence was used against Hell. Sam discovered an unforeseen tactic. Everything was at risk now. If news spread of this, all hell literally would break loose. The demons serving underneath the Fallen rioted. Immortals could be killed, but in their own world they were safe from death. However, Sam had changed the rules.

As the horde approached him, Sam dropped the knife. A sense filled him and his hands few up. The fires of hell twirled and spiraled like a double helix around him, his mind willing the heat to burn hotter. The columns soon burned orange, then red, and finally the brightest blue not found in nature. He laughed once before he unleashed the powers of hell on itself. It felt good. More than good. Everyone and everything in hell would be wiped clean and he would create a new hell in his image.


	7. Going Under

-xx-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Muscles awoke once more, restoring Dean's vise-like grip on the reality around him, not that he wanted the cold hard facts of where he was to return. A strange gurgle settled inside of him when the agony of the flesh took over. It was unbearable when he returned from his hellish death and rebirth. Yet even in the wake of all of this pain, his eyes opened. The pain made it difficult to adjust to the darkness as his vision clouded, sinking deeper into the pit of soreness. "Another great Dean Winchester idea," he said to himself. "Just another thing you've screwed up."

Ignoring the liquid fire coursing through his legs, he pulled himself upright. He fell, one foot touching down before its mate joined it. Burns kissed his flesh. His knuckles popped sickeningly as he gripped and released a fist. His eyes rose and quickly turned to find his keepers gone, but he was far from alone. The coarse nature of hell fire on his newly reborn skin was an irritation only increased by the stifling heat of too many souls crowded in one place. With a hard look and blink, he tried to see a path leading him out of this place. He blinked harder, thinking he heard a familiar voice. If he just focused hard enough, he might be able to see the things he only hoped and imagined happening in this place. Yet, there was no sounds-no voice- except for his fellow beings trapped in hell. No one was calling for him. Had everyone forgotten him?

A disgusting place stretched before him again. There was an endless ramble of noise as lowly demons and all manner of lowlife called out in incomprehensible grunts from all direction. There was a stench of filth and grime and blood raped the air.

As he stomped forward, a voice in his head whispered "There's a way out." Before Dean could pass off the experience as a hallucination ala Field of Dreams, he reminded himself his Dad had crawled out. He pushed pass the masses in the pit, trying to find a foothold in the side of this pit. He was unable to actually recall hearing or seeing as he walked onward, crawling, climbing, and struggling to find the gate opening. Time passed so quickly yet the burning pain lingered as if everything moved in slow motion. Hell was truly a paradox of sensations.

He jerked back when he felt his body a tremor again. It may take longer to happen, but the perpetual death cycle came even without aid of a demon tormentor. From the depths his inner voice told him to press onward. He looked about as steady on his feet as he felt, and he felt ready to collapse, although, he hated to admit weakness that weakness

Dean sighed, slumping tiredly. Every person, every pain, ever memory turned to fragments of a life too short lived and with way too much pain. "Why?" Dean said pitifully, smearing a blackened pieced of skin of his arm flesh away, watching it crack from his bones. He wiped a smudge of sulphur from his cheek, watching the substance hiss on his skin. "Damn poison!" he said. But he would be whole again. That was his torment: A man in an unending state of living and dying. At any one point he would never live again because life in hell was no life at all and he would never truly die without the ability to rest. How many times had it happened now? 10? More?

He felt a burning sensation in the lower body, which soon intensified into a full-fledged burn on his torso. The fire rose all the way up, tearing blood and flesh, while he screamed in agony. Still, he moved onward as if he was hell bent to endure whatever pain just to find his escape. With that, he hacked up blood. When the sounds of angry screams from the enraged group of souls began, he covered his ears.

His teeth clenched together and he began jabbing his heels into the substance around him. He stood unflinchingly for a second, staring straight ahead as if a path would magically appear. He let his ire grow. He hated this world, his past life, his father for leading him to this life, his brother Sam for leaving and going to Stanford and not standing with them, his family and friend for not saving him. He hated every damn thing. How was it fair that he suffered like this when he tried his best to do the right thing? "Did I ever do the right thing?" He asked with a firm fist, banging a wrathful punch to hellfire burning him. He muttered a few curses, stamped loudly with an angry thrust of his foot. "Let ME OUT!! Open the damn door!" Never had hell heard such a long, loud war cry erupt. "I'll kill you all!"

"That's the spirit! When you're pissed off, show it! You're coming along quite nicely!" His demon tormentor had been watching, letting Dean find a smidge of hope to only take it away to send him back to a deeper sense of despair. He would break this man and hell would have a deadly solider in this one. He slashed Dean's face and tore a large gash in Dean's back.

"You think you've felt pain? I will you make you beg for mercy."

Dean winced and yelled, but he was still not ready to give in. The urge to fight sparked strong, but his jabs were weak from the damage to him. Blood spattered as he could feel the sharp sensation of pain rolling through this body furiously.

**-x-xx-xx-x-x-xx-x-x-x**

* * *

Sam's eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, unleashing hell's own fire against the gathering crowd, trapping the denizens helpless in his path. A blur of motion took over his arm as the demon blood overtook his gentler spirit. "I'll break you!" His urgency to find Dean was replaced with a smug grin. With no warning, the anger flashed and in an instant were at his throat leaned in and hissed, "All of you will not live another day."

The demons shrieked as Sam slashed with this weapon at ungodly speeds. The prowess of his body and blade were only eclipsed by the building power in his mind. One after one his helpless victims fell under his death strike. When his welcome wagon was dispatched, he didn't stop.

Spirit after spirit, demon after demon, whether Sam could tell who or what was around him he didn't care. He slashed several times at an unnamed demon's face. Another fallen joined the fray, only to find a sticky end when Sam slashed back, ripping open the creature's chest.

"Die! All of you weakling, die!" Sam dashed quickly through the masses, slaughtering anything that moved. While his back was turned, a demon sunk sharp teeth into his back. With twist, he shanked his blade into the demon's side and then he arched an upward stab to the throat.

He cleared a barrage of spirits with stabs that seemed to move in a blur then countered with an overhead slash. He threw his weapon up above his head, letting it find more victims. It was a massacre that hell had never seen. No matter where he moved there were more and more souls screaming and there were more and more of them to kill with ease. He sensed them long before he could see them in his view. And when he saw his opponent, he flared with hatred. Hatred consumed him. There is no way to escape it; everyone is consumed by it at one point or another. Darkness emptied out the love Sam had and soon he would be nothing.

One of his victims shrieked with eyes bulging to the size of apples "Dean! I've seen Dean!"

Sam raised his weapon high, ready to strike when the amulet on his chest started to warm unbearably. It didn't burn so much as push against the evil taking him over. Instantly his hand went to it, grasping over it to stop the sensation, but it only made it worse. As if the talisman had lifted a veil from his mind, he pulled back the shred of humanity he felt, letting the warmth of the gold figurine lead him back. He gasped when the rational part of him took back control. The sheer numbers he had delivered to nothingness staggered in the hundreds.

"Please, I know what you want. I can lead you." A slender, fair woman still begged, high cheekbones rumpling slightly as she frowned.

"Dean. You've seen him recently. Where is he?

"H-h-h-he's under Xaphan's control. I heard one of 'em them laughing about it. "Please, I'm not one of them."

"Show me?"

"Of course, dear boy." Clenching her fist before her face, her fingernails grew like spike talons. Flashing, the foot long silver finger blades, she shredded Sam's flesh, ripping open his neck. Her face was splattered with the blood that erupted from the wound. Sam fell slightly, but found with a wave of his hand, the slashes closed.

Then without warning, his mind reached out collapsing the demon in on itself as if he was forcing the too large contents through a straw. In just a blink, he had killed a demon without his knife, but with the thoughts and desires in his head. He felt himself slipping away again and grabbed hold of the silent necklace next to his heart to keep from going under and losing himself. The longer he endured these powers to more likely it was he wasn't going to be able to return.


	8. The Line

With only the smallest glimmer of remembrance in his mind, Sam managed to pull back from the proverbial hellish power brink. He never thought walking the line of his demonic given powers would ever be so difficult to keep at bay or so easy to manipulate to his darkest whims. Of all the times he tried to be an upstanding person, of all the times he told himself to think of others first, of all the times he had shown compassion, there had always been envy and selfish thoughts just below. He hated to admit it and banished those sides of himself away. He thought he was being the better person for controlling those baser ideas. Now, he knew. The darker part of him had been screaming for control, and when this energy was unleashed, it would love to swallow Sam whole. Somehow, Dean being saved seemed worth it, even if his brother would kick Sam's ass for trying.

"You fought so hard to spare me this…" Sam muttered under his breath, glancing down at the jacket around his shoulders and the gold amulet around his neck as if he were speaking to Dean. The melancholy twinge hit his gut- A guilt that he had failed Dean by doing that which his brother dreaded most. The smallest slip of Sam's brotherly love spun over the darkness overtaking him, keeping his thoughts on his mission. No matter what it took to come back from his, Bobby and Dean would help him. No matter what it took for Dean to heal after all of this, Sam would do it. It was all to repay Dean for the injustice the earthly realm had given to him. Dean waited for him somewhere in this unimaginable pit and he didn't have the luxury of control the hellfire to keep himself safe.

Sam capped the power seething inside him as if he had a stopper that could bottle it all up. He would get his family back. To worry about what may happen would only take away from his focus on finding his brother.

* * *

**-x-xx-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

"ARGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Dean screamed as he felt a sharp talon rip inside his clavicle bone and neck muscle. The stressed bone snapped, poking thru his flesh. Then his scream was interrupted as a slimy hand roughly grabbed his shoulder. He nearly wheeled around into a half spin, but the demon twisted the arm into a sick and unnatural angle to keep Dean facing away.

Xaphan took great pleasure from the soft popping sound it made and the painful moan from his victim. "So weak!"

Dean jumped back, weakly clutching his arm. "Stop." He tossed a swing from his other arm that only found air.

"I will, but you have to give me what I want. You are the only one that might give us control of Sam… we have you… he folds."

"I hope he kills you all. I won't help..." Dean mumbled, reminding himself that bargaining with demons got him in this mess and another bargain would only make it worse. He whipped around to the being that had caused him such unimaginable pain.

"The anguish in your eyes. You're pathetic just like your parents. You're just a husk of pain now. Not a human. You have no soul. You're a living, mewling corpse. That's all you ever were. It's why we didn't want you. You couldn't lead an army. "

Another savage blow of hard knuckles balled into Dean's ribs, followed by a hard smack to his spine. A loud, meaty grunt spilled from his lips. The demon drew back a fist, while Dean tensed for another strike, feeling dizzy from the numerous jabs and punches, but still conscious enough to witness the next attack. The demon grabbed Dean, squeezing large arms around his already aching ribs, listening as each one cracked.

"What do you bastards want!" Dean demanded, breathing the words more than screaming them. Of course, the demon would never reply with a good reason. Dean strained against Xaphan, but it appeared the creature had no difficulty in holding Dean where he wanted him to inflict the most damage. The sheer terror of how vulnerable he was keep fresh ideas of how much worse this could and would probably get. This only caused Dean more frustration. How could he struggle so hard and use so much energy to try and repel Xaphan when the demon had to exert small amounts of his own to torment him.

"Fight with us and you can help yourself. Your connection to your family is your downfall. You see what you want to see. Sam's not here for you. We have him. Don't you want to save him? You both would be safe forever. No pain…the chosen."

"Sam…"

"Fight with us and end both of your pain."

He saw Xaphan's lip twitch, pulling back into a deranged grin. A taloned finger carved downwards, nicking the flesh and muscle of his chest. He gasped and jerked, his hands clenching hard as his body seemed to spasm as the hellion cut and cut, carving a vulgar, jagged gash into Dean. The blood wasn't warm at all; it was a cold as it slid down the hollow cave of his belly and into the hellfire. He would have reflected how strange it was that the warmth of his body and blood seemed frozen now compared to the heat from the inferno around him, but a hand savagely backhanded him.

"Dean." A faint voice called out to him- Sam's voice. He replied in a whisper, but disbelief made him ignore the sound. The fact that he wanted to hear Sam calling for him seemed too remote to even fathom. Hell couldn't deliver hope to him and the voice meant more than that to him.

"Dean!" Sam repeated as Xaphan inflicted more damage to Dean. As Sam raced closer, the demon smiled and smacked Dean's jaw hard enough to sound like thunder struck the young hunter.

When the demon stopped, Dean collapsed unable to move. His body ready to die on him again. "Sam?" A groggy spoke and called, wishing his mind would give him hope again. A wrenching pain began in his gut as he swallowed hard to try to suppress bitter tears. On a subconscious level, he was hurt that he could not be given a moment to mourn. He did not want to cry. Not here. Not with these demons. He would try and be strong to stave off their torture. Perhaps he provided little amusement for them, but his death would come quickly and he could rest. If he could remember and bring Sam to him in a hallucination, then he was the first to find peace and freedom in the depths of hell.

Then he felt his body lift, Xaphan was upon him in mere seconds. The creature forced Dean's back to bend in a backwards U before he jerked his victim like a plush toy without any stuffing.

"LET HIM GO!" Sam demanded.

Xaphan slowly moved the tip of his claw over Dean's cheek until he gained a deep groan from his prey. "Back off or big bro gets more!"

"STOP IT!" Sam screamed with a voice that trembled the pit like an earthquake.

Sam!" Dean almost gagged as he cried out. He thrust his arm in Sam's direction as if it would help to close the expanding gap between them.

"Hold on Dean!" he returned his call.

When Dean heard his name it broke him. He was crying rivers down his cheeks in a great flood. He hardly felt them as he futilely fought against the vice-like grip of the demon. If Dean had not been so consumed by the very real amazement of seeing his brother; he would have recognized something wrong in Sam.

The demon gripped Dean so tight, it cut off the circulation. "Do you want to play a game, Sam? Do you like my prize?" He asked.

Sam smirked. "I've come for your prize." He absent mindedly placed a stray strands of hair back behind his ear, feeling suddenly at easy and not recognizing the evil within him breaking the cork on his inner bottle of control. All he could think of was how the demons around him were lowly creatures, wastes of life to be eliminated as he chose, but he suddenly didn't feel like mass extermination- just yet.

Xaphan was glaring with vehemence and pretending not to be effected by Sam's presence, but he couldn't help but sidle to the side to be not so near to Sam. He could have sworn he felt heat emanating from his deadly opponent.

"Release him now."

"Just because you lost brother, doesn't mean you can slum down here and order us to give him up"

"I have the power to make you." It was quite apparent that Sam was an unexpected and unwelcome visitor here.

"You have no power. Give it up!" He dropped Dean like an unwanted sack of potatoes.

"You will pay for that."

Despite the distance between them, Sam leaped forward as if he'd been shocked. Nimbly, the demon leaped too.

Harsh black eyes stared at Sam, but he smiled wickedly. His voice coy and simply doused in baneful delight. "Come on!" San walked closer and closer to the edge of a flaring of his powers.

In unison, Sam and Xaphan attacked each other. Sam moving first as he flipped over the Xaphan's head and struck. The creature deflected the first blow with a spin.

"I'm going to punish you for all the pain you gave to him." Sam's arm slammed down on the demon's jaw.

"You are not strong enough to kil..."

"I don't want you dead. I want to leave you so broken that even God cries what is that thing. For all time, you will be a reminder to those that cause my family harm." Sam said, glancing down at his weakened brother.

Sam's attention snapped back to Xaphan, driving the demon back. The creature still deflected blows without a hope of striking out against Sam. As the battle continued, Sam found he could fight with a renewed strength and energy. Suddenly darkness fed him, white flames emerging around him and joining with the black hell flames. He immediately struck the demon with a powerful spin kick.

The force threw the demon's form upward and slammed him back to the pit grounds, landing just shy of a Dean's barely moving body.

Then Sam moved with a new stride, confident and almost march like. The closest thing Dean had ever witnessed to the pure intent in Sam's eyes was on National Geographic when a cougar had attacked a Gazelle. It was obvious Sam was bringing this demon down in the most painful way imaginable.

"Sam?" When Dean's attempted to call for his brother, Sam was beyond his reach. He had never seen Sam fight like this before. He wasn't holding back on any level and the sheer limits of his intensity had no end. Worse, Dean could swear Sam was grinning.


	9. Taken

Sam laughed and muttered something cruel, which sounded like a form of Latin, a strain strangely unknown and alien to Dean. The flames around him swirled with a renewed energy as if they drew sustenance from the power building inside of Sam. As the magma like fire became an extension of his little brother, they burned Dean even harsher than before.

Despite any pain, he struggled to crawl towards his brother. Fingers dug into the substance of the pit and brimstone, propelling him forward inch by inch, or more appropriately burn by burn. With every precious stretch of ground gained, his fingers raked with new streaks of blood and burns until his they were a charred mess. He called out, seeking a connection, even to the smallest sliver of Sam. "Help…help me…"

When Sam turned, a slow depraved grin appeared that spoke of death to anyone who dared to even utter a cross word. Clearly, the power inside of Sam had snapped him, like a rubber band extended and plucked for over twenty-six years until it finally broke. Suddenly, the part of Sam that Dean always hinged his hope on was gone. Even Sam's features seemed to change. He didn't morph into a deformed monster, but his face was different like the angles had become harder and sharper.

Dean had only saw of glimpse of what Sam was becoming, but the brief glance was enough to know the strength that was building to portions beyond anyone's control. Worse, in his current condition, Dean was unable to do anything to stop it. Before he had prayed for death as a reprieved to pain, now he prayed for it to bring him back whole again to stop this from happening to beloved brother.

No amount of prayer would slip from Sam's lips. For once in his life, he let the rage, the anger fill him and grow. He always envisioned his hate as a wave that would ebb in small increments until it became like a typhoon. Power was nothing at all like that. There was a build, but it was more like a dare. One taste sprouted out to take an even bigger taste. Each time it was like lighting a fuse and when the explosion occurred, the dark was all that could survive, while little bits of his compassion, hope, and love burned away. And with each successful display the fuse seemed to get shorter and shorter. He had no problem lighting the spark to his deepest desires. For all the pain he had ever experience, this was revenge. He smiled for a second, wry and omnipotent. Finally, the darkness broke away, coming in full force against the creature before Sam.

Unwittingly, the demon charged at him. Without even the smallest betrayal of a muscle movement, Sam never winced as the demon's charge, giving not even the slimmest of indications he would defend himself. The tiniest speck of his eye reflected his desire to fling the demon, watching the twists and spirals of the unprepared Xaphan. That slight blink of an eye gave the only physical indication of the whims in his mind.

The creature reacted as if a missile kicked him in the sternum, but he recovered, gaining momentum for another counterattack. It was obvious he was struggling to keep up with Sam's power, but for the moment Sam let the damn thing believe he had a chance. The dishonest act filled with something more than the word satisfaction could begin to describe. Even the word superior seemed inferior to Sam to describe the way he felt. After several landed blows to Sam's torso, he used his mind to slam the demon back into the pit several yards from Dean. With a sneer, Xaphan flipped, rolling over and over, the demonic form being battered and raked across fire and brimstone. "You should learn to take as well as you give."

It was in that second, Dean realized that Sam wasn't concerned about anything but the idea of revenge, and not in the sense of justice. Revenge- the blind ambition and very emotion that had drove Sam and John apart, now fueled his little brother. Sam had always said John couldn't know him because all he could understand was his blind need for vengeance. Now Sam had become a warped mirror of that emotion and the sinister blood inside him manipulated its way to banish the better parts of Sam.

"Don't...not like this." Dean's eyes pleaded, but his brother didn't acknowledge anything.

Sam didn't care, delving into his almost carnal, perverse smugness. There was nothing soft in his facial expression. No love. No remorse. No compassion. The air of sanctimonious pride rolled inside him again."SILENCE!" he ordered.

When the words fell inside of Dean's eardrum, he found he couldn't resist as if his body had some conditioned response to do exactly as Sam asked. How strange he felt to be aware of his surroundings, but feeling so powerless at the same time.

With a roar, Sam charged upon Xaphan. It was over quite quickly. Suddenly, he shot a hand through the demon's abdomen, ripping the upward towards the creature's gullet. Sam ignored the strangled gurgle his plaything made, a bubbling begging of a dying demon. The creature's face switched from surprise to blankness and his body flopped like meat scorching in a skillet.

Sam raised the fires on the form, watching the flickers amplify in size, intensity, and heat until the demon became ashes, burning from existence. His eyes took in every moment of the demon's demise, staring down at the swells and ripple of hellfire, destroying his opponent, not wanting it to end. The grisliness mirrored on solid silver pupils. If his power included an instant replay feature, he would repeat it like the best moment on the highlight reel.

Watching the ghoulish sight, the weakened Dean fought thorough the pain and rallied against the order he had been given. After a moment, he thought of only reaching his brother. When his fear mixed with the unconditional love in his heart, he managed to struggle some speech. "Sam?" Dean's voice came, soft and weak as he stared at the flames in horror, wondering how his brother gained such colossal power so damn fast. He never wanted this for Sam. He sold his soul to keep Sam safe. "This. . . can't be happening. . .!"

Suddenly he felt the air, crush from his throat. Sam stared at him intently. "S….S….SSSs…a….. ammm." His back bent in a strange horseshoe shape, arching his abdomen upward. A strange gurgling and hacking rattled in this throat, his body's attempt to fight the invading presence on his larynx. His throat was thick like a lump of coal-hard and jagged- gouging inside his throat. Sam raised Dean up, floating him like Sam' mind called for hell itself to move Dean for him. The flames surrounded Dean, burning him even further and faster. He drifted to rest on Sam's shoulders, nothing more than a sack of trash to be tossed at Sam's will.

When the grip on his throat stopped, he tried to gasp. Dean panicked now. The flames no longer touched him as if he was shielded. He felt the pull of death, as he had so many times during his time in the pit. If Sam took him now, he would never be reborn. He would forever be damned to be this charred thing until he died for the last time. Given the agony flourishing inside without any new damage, death wouldn't be that far from calling on him. Only this place could bring him back- a hellish damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. "No, you have to… wait…"

"No MORE! You will be silent!"

All protests ended, even though Dean flailed, trying get Sam's attention with gestures and blows when words could no longer flow. "Fight me and you know what happens. You've already had a taste, don't make me kill you." But there was still reluctance for Sam to inflict that upon Dean just yet. The words carried a command and Dean went limp. "Better. We will be a force that this world has never seen. I understand now, we were chosen. You will want for nothing."

Finally, Dean, alone with only his thoughts, understood what John had meant. How can he save Sam, if there was no part of his brother left? Sam was wrong. He wanted for something. Dean wanted his brother, the better and more moral half of the family and not the bastardized warped thing that manifested in his place. Hell had sucked away the humanity from his little brother, and it was all Dean's fault. He fell right into that trap, giving the darkness in Sam a cause to let the power take over.

Yet, there was a glimmer of hope. Sam hadn't destroyed him outright. Some part of him was still connected for whatever reason, but how could he reach Sam when he couldn't speak or move? How could he even tell his brother that the protection from the fires of hell would lead him to a final death? His body would die, his soul could end up back in pain and misery, and there would be no way to come back. And if he could say all those things, would his enough of his little brother be in there to care?

Without a sense of urgency, Sam moved forward, bringing his trophy like a successful big game hunt to the surface.


	10. The other side

**Author's note: I tried not to get too gross in this, but be warned, its not pretty.**

* * *

A misshapen shadow flickered against the brightness within Hell's open gate, and it wasn't the first time Bobby witnessed something trying to crawl its way into the world. No matter how many times that happened, he couldn't get use to the disappointment of it not being Sam and Dean returning. He wasn't used to waiting when it came time to fight, and it stuck in his gall like cactus needles.

As this figure grew in size, it also increased in familiarity. Bobby found himself hoping. If he were a younger man, he could have been mistaken for being giddy. Sam and Dean- he saw them coming from the opening. "I didn't think you boys would make it out. I was getting worried." For once in his life, it appeared as if things were looking up until he got a more detailed look.

The steely gray sky smudged with dark, pendulous, sludge clouds that seemed to protest Sam's arrival. A straight razor alignment stacked his back as if hatred clung to Sam's spine, rigid and unmoving. It seemed to flare making him taller than even his normal gangly self. For all the heat burning within Sam, his eyes were Freon cold. He was untarnished by flame, whole in body, if not of mind.

"Take him!" Sam demanded, indicating to the man perched atop his shoulders, if you could call it a man now. Somewhere along the way, Sam didn't notice as Dean progressed further and further in his destruction. And without the ability to protest, there was no means to beg or barter with his little brother.

Without the regeneration of his flesh in the fires of hell, Dean, or more aptly what was left of him, was mangled beyond any earthly idea of horror. The fires fused muscle, bone, and skin in an almost unidentifiable way. Dean's eyes were fixed, not by death, but by terror of thing that should never have come to pass. In these extreme circumstances, Bobby would expect some form of shell shock, but a closer inspection told him Dean was desperately trying to scream a warning. The emerald portals narrowed with regret, silently begging and fighting to make things right.

Before Bobby could question or think of what had transpired, Dean rose in the air, flying towards him like the wind carried hm. "I have more important things to do now. He is your charge."

The body fell hard to the ground at his feet. The snap, twist, and crackle of skin and bone echoed from the disheveled, broken and bloody form, followed by a sound of pure pain. Finding his voice again, Dean muttered. "I have to go back… Hhh…he…help." A gurgle cut off his voice, sounding like his lungs were sucking the scarce air thorough mud. His chest rose in an uneven pattern.

"We'll take care of you." The desperate breathing shocked Bobby so thoroughly; he dropped to his knees in record speed. "Hold on, son."

Every inch of Dean was exposed, remnants of burned rags covered the very least of him and what remained seemed to be fused with his skin in places. Any idea of modesty and dignity died long ago with whatever agony the elder brother suffered. Bobby removed his jacket, covering his friend. The young hopeful boy Bobby once knew, the brave teenager, and the brash and giving man were all gone, leaving a mass of tissue. His bangs were plastered to his forehead, soaked by blood, some hairs melted, giving off the most atrocious smell. He might have appeared a bit pale had scarlet liquid not drenched over him. Blood seeped out from every portion of her exposed skin- a mere image of putrescent scorched flesh.

"Help Sam…need to go back….can't..." Dean fumbled over his words as a lone tear made its way down his face, clearing a path through the dried, caked on blood.

"I don't need his help. I finally understand my destiny. I'm the one…all those other before me were weak. All those chosen before me, they couldn't be strong enough to reshape this world. Don't you see? We can be gods. No one lives in pain without our knowledge...we decide. The strong shall pay."

"No…no…" Dean stressed.

"Dammit, Sam! You're brother needs you. Come back to us... you did this to save him. Don't do this!" Bobby felt a sudden warming of the air and an energy ripple, silencing him with a thought.

"You live only out of our history, but my graciousness will only go so far."

"Have… to... have to go… back…..poison……have…" Dean felt his breath whistle around his teeth. He managed to raise himself up in a half-sitting, half-lying position.

"Back where? What do you need?" His voice returned.

"Hell...save..."He only laid there, blood guzzling around and from his body.

Bobby swallowed hard. Fear was always an issue in this business, but he had just lost, and failed in his mind, the two people he always promised to protect. He looked down and pulled Dean to him. "I'm so sorry kiddo. I thought…" He could feel Dean shivering. The pain must be beyond terrible.

"Are...you... okay?" Dean asked

"Yeah, I'm fine, but you aren't! You're bleeding all over! "Bobby hands were soaked red.

Dean extended his hand, ignoring the throb and inflammation. He had to look horrible from Bobby's response. He stared at his friend with a mixture of fear, regret, but most of all love. "I'm alright..." Yet, when he spoke, his body arched in grotesque spasms of pain. "I'm sorry… help him… too late..." The air left him for a moment.

"No… no… you aren't going after all this. You have to help me bring Sam back." Bobby pulled his jacket to tuck in more warmth, wishing this was just a dream- a bad bad dream. It wasn't.

"Can't." He pushed out on a struggling breath.

Bobby wordlessly pulled Dean closer and for once was at a lost for a cynical statement or wisdom. "You're going to be fine." He sounded genuinely worried.

"Always," Dean said without thought. That was the thing to say whether or not it was true.

"Bet you will," Bobby said with a half smile, pulling into sadness. He tried to keep the tears from rolling down his face, yet one escaped his mental cage of strength. "We'll get you back in shape in no time."

"You have to save… Sam…. He wouldn't want to become that thing… I can't...dying."

"Hush that up. You can't do that... not to me... not to him." Dean's blood was all over him. He thought if he held on tightly to his friend, he could hold back the hands of time and death.

"Too late…." His eyes stared with an intensity that was beyond description as if they were wide with wonder and all the secrets of the universe were held there within. "Too late... too late…" He could feel his flesh peeling, the blood welting like it wanted to congeal. He tasted the iron tang seeping inside his slack jaw. Eventually, the slick blood on his face merged and melded in with the tears "leave me... can't figh..."

"Never... you always win at that last moment."

To that Dean said nothing, too tired to do anything beyond a nod. Then he felt no rage, no anger, no pain, and no regret. Just a feeling of calmness, release, filled him. "I... I understand it now… I know…" After that, he fell silent, only a few struggled breaths came to him for a few seconds. Then a last shutter breath pushed out and Dean became languid.

All of Bobby's training and resolve fell apart in an instant as he wept over his fallen friend. He cradled the man in his arms, feeling the life blood drain way and the essence that was Dean ebb out of existence. "Not now… not after all this…."

No matter how many times he called or begged Dean to hold on, the boy was stubborn to the end- blazing his own path even when it was to his own determent. Bobby felt certain he would never experience anything worse than this. Yet, there was Sam to face and the possibility that he may be beyond saving.

"SAM!! Sam, he's gone...He's...dead!"

"I shall make him reborn with all the powers of hell at his command!" Sam raised his arm like a runner with his first taste of victory. Suddenly, the gate behind him rumbled, and a demonic cloud larger than any human or demon had ever witnessed poured out like a universal big bang had started.

League after league, the demons came. They tore beyond the devil's trap boundaries, still whole and intact, its powers as useless as any words to Sam now. His powers rewriting the rules of the universe as the last of Sam's humanity squashed away.

"Finally, I am whole." With that the demonic presences began to fill Sam, one by one, combining in mass in a more than willing shell. "Legion will be reborn."


	11. Open

The wind began to dry the blood on the scarlet stained, soft hairs at Dean's temple, whipping them gently. The serene motion made it appear as if Dean were napping in some quiet landscape with sun kissed grass swaying in a breeze. When Bobby lowered Dean's body, he eased him so delicately, thinking he might still spare the young man some pain. However, he was beyond that now. "You rest, kid. Go to someplace nice where no one will be able to hurt you again." Bobby rose slowly, feeling his legs try to buckle beneath him, disgusted by the loss of Dean as much as what he was about to do. He wasn't entirely sure if he would be able to heal again after losing another family. "He's dead….Sam……he's…..he's….."

Word were ever so meaningless now. Not even Dean's death could stop the vicious way the demons crowded inside Sam. An endless numbers of black possession shoved and crammed into an already crowded mind. With each passing second, Sam was becoming less and less human and more and more the devil. "He is of little importance to us." The multitude spoke together, forming one strange gravelly voice.

"He is to Sam! Kid, fight this. This is what Dean sacrificed himself for. He sold his soul to save you from all this! Don't stain his memory now. The side that cares has to be inside of you or you would you have killed us outright."

"Would you like to die now? Sam is gone. Only we remain. I am legion, we are many… we are one. "

"You're a liar! Sam is in there!" Bobby stared down at the long tongue liar, defying the idea that all of Sam was no more.

"Surely you understand. Every person has dual faces. The face they present to the world and the face they suppress and ignore. The image that peeks out at times in rage, lust, hate, violence, darkness. The difference is I stopped and embraced it." Sam smiled a grotesque smile, growling maliciously.

"The come and get me, come and get me too. Cause I don't want to see you this way. I thank God Dean only saw half of this. I've got nothing left to lose! You damn demons took away everything I ever had. Then you took my friends- John, Dean and finally poor Sam. You took them all away from me, and I've got nothing more to give you..." Bobby demanded. He would fight this thing, surely a losing battle, but he would honor his adoptive family in the only way he knew how.

Bobby glanced at Dean's unmoving body for a moment, drawing courage to continue. He stepped forward, ready to do his worst, knowing it would more than likely be over quickly for him. He wasn't afraid of death or being careless, but if his demise made some part of Sam realize what he had become, it would still be worth it. He had no weapon but the fondness in his heart and he wondered if that was enough. Another footfall forward meant another second closer to the end, until he felt something grip his shoulder.

The first notice of a figure just behind Bobby registered against the retina of the thousand of demons inside of Sam. With a hiss, they condemned the sight of the vision that shined like a sun overpowering darkness. He spoke in a voice so sweet, almost like the shuffle of an angel's wings. "Sam."

When Bobby heard the voice, even before he turned, he knew it and his heart stood still. Then he whipped around to see Dean's spirit, whole and perfect. Bobby's eyes were wet for a second with almost disbelief. Moving forward, Dean smiled at his friend. "This is not your fight. I know what to do now." Bobby glanced from the spirit to the body. "Take care of him for me." For once in his life, Bobby was at a loss for words.

"Sammy." Dean called, calmly and fondly.

"Don't call me that!" Sam demanded. His eyes flashed the instant Dean moved, and in a fraction of a second they met with a few feet between. His pupils dilated to slivers of silver lined with black. A shrill shriek of brutal animalistic glee echoed through the night, only to be answered by warmth.

"I won't fight you."

"Because you can't."

"Sam can. He's not just what the yellow eye demon did to him. He is my father, Bobby, me." Dean's voice was charged with every emotion he had- without walls- pure. "Every person he ever saved, every evil that he killed, every time he laughed, cried, and rejoiced… It shaped him. No matter how powerful that demon blood is, it's not WHO he is… it's what you did to him. Not the whole. Even if only a speck Sam is in there."

"You have no power!"

"I can override all that you've done. Can you r power take away the times he carried me home when I got drunk? Times we fought? First dates? School bullies? Can it take away the times Sam woke me from nightmares? The times I checked under his bed for you demon bastards. Can it take away the sorrow of losing our Dad, each other, Jess, our Mom….so many times…."

"That is meaningless now!"

"Then why can't you destroy me! You have the power to send my spirit to nothing, but you can't do it. Impotent with all the power of hell at your command. Can you do it, Sammy?" Dean raised his hand, but Sam cut him off.

"Don't call me that!" He screamed. "SHUT UP!"

"Everything to you damn demons is black and white!"

"I am legion! Stop now…"

"I told you to destroy me! End it, but you can't. Sam is in there. And after all this, you're afraid of words. Sounds pretty wussy to me."

"I warn you!"

"Hmmphf…demonic warning shot….never heard anyone give one of those…. You can't understand the grey in between. You can't understand that the sides of a person makes them whole. How being brothers helped us be whole when everything… Everything was so messed up... damaged…..Even with the temptation of power, he chose to save. It was there all his life…the best of us all. But, you didn't see that. No one did…." Dean smiled. "We'll I did… All the times he chose to save me, when he was less than happy with me. All the times he saved someone who didn't deserve to be saved. You want a demonic warrior god, but you only created a better man. My brother... and if it takes my soul, my spirit to get him back, you better… even God better believe, I'll do it."

"NO!" Sam taunted wordlessly, but his face contorted as if Dean reached something, whether it was the goodness in Sam or the fear of evil remained to be determined.

However, Dean's focus was clear with intent and purpose. Reaching out, Dean found his hand enclosing around his amulet, still hanging around Sam's neck. "And you were foolish enough to leave me the means to save him."

"A meaningless trinket."

"Just as blind as I was….. but I only see it now." When his fingers released the metal it shined as if an internal light source beamed from within. Then without warning Dean's hand passed through Sam chest, pulling the golden icon with him. "The thing about being open to souls, letting demons in… you're open to every spirit…. You're open to me."

The dark working against Sam flinched. Rough hands flew upwards, ready to expel the spirit affecting demonic plans, but it was caught easily. "Fight Sam. I'll help you, but I can't do this on my own." Dean pleaded. Then, just out a view he saw Bobby's hand grip Sam's shoulder.

"Kid, come on." The seasoned hunter said, standing by them as always.

Dean let all he had flow into Sam, giving his energy to search for his brother within, focusing on securing that part. His soul reached out among the murk, moving through the blood laced with the evil of many demons.

The many personalities inside Sam freaked immediately, thrashing so violently, it would seem to make Dean's attempts at defense slightly pathetic. Nothing was further from reality. "No… NO…" They protested with a dry gullet. Feeling the sting, Sam let out a weak, alarmed moan and pushed away, his head flopping about in protest.

As Dean's resolve became greater, he could feel his sibling shake under his restraining hand. Dean's fingers, flexing frantically, struggled to use all he had to drive the demons away. "You're going to be okay. I promise."

Sam muttered incoherently as the sound of a thousand voices all spoke at once. His voice shuddered in gasps, confessing random, muddled thoughts and confused threats. A few minutes in, his rasps became heavy labored breaths.

Siphoning away his own soul little by little, Dean felt his little brother draw closer. The demons pulled at the amulets cord, ripping the string, but it didn't budge. For every bit of energy spent, Dean weakened, but Sam grew stronger. His spirit began to sputter and dissipate, but he could feel Sam fighting, finally fighting to come back.

Sam forced the demons down, heart beating faster and faster. "NO!!" Sam screamed, shoving and demanding for a means of control. All the sprits flung his weakened brother's soul away with a sudden impulse.

Dean flung first with Bobby following, who landed with a loud bang against one of the tombstones. When he glanced at Dean, the image was hazy and sputtering like bad TV reception. "Dean, don't…"

But, Dean stood up, walked through the demonic smog and embraced Sam, giving his little brother an anchor to hold to. Then Sam screamed, primordial and vicious- little more than the sound of a wounded animal. More and more, the black flood of demons spilled into Sam.

"I love you. Never doubt that." Dean whispered. "You made my life okay… made some part happy…. And I couldn't let you die…. Not you…. You were all I really had. The last part of Mom… the good part."

"Don't…" Sam forced out.

"I have to. You're my brother FOREVER. And as long as you're alive, then so am I…Stop thinking I am something more than human... I'm not.

"STOP!" Sam begged this time, fighting the creatures inside of him.

"I am so proud of you… The compassion you have. I should have done more, said things, but…I didn't… I have a multitude of reasons but not one is good enough. I've done so much wrong…. And I can't fix that now. I wish I could. Just know I'll always be a part of you. Just kick some ass for me… okay!

Then the earth shook, rumbling as if hell was collapsing in on itself.

"Bobby… take cover!" Dean demanded. "Run now!"

The gate creaked and the roar of fire bomb came up through the portal. The impact tossed Sam away from Dean, blasting him back from the epicenter of demonic energy burning away.

Bobby sunk down, bracing as the fires of hell broke into the human plane. He lost all sight of Sam and Dean's spirit, forced to cover his face from the supernova flames. He coughed as he called out for them, but the smoke overtook him and he collapsed by the devil's gate.

Suddenly, the demons spit out of Sam, spinning and rumbling, forced to leave. Sam's arm outstretched, his fingers flying open and splayed, calling the fire to him. It whipped around like a cyclone, reaching out and capturing the fleeing demons as if the flames and liquid had a mind of their own. . It did, Sam's mind.

He had only a moment to glance at Dean, who smiled, but it was too late. The oldest Winchester dissipated with a peaceful, we won look on his features. Sam stumbled forward, fingers grasping at dust floating away on hellfire. "NO!!" Dean!!" The flames rose up into the heavens, devouring anything it could find. With all of the powers within him, he focused on just one thing. In one great fire ball, he reached out, demanding the universe set things right just this once. The power within him built and exploded like a detonation of Sam's emotions.


	12. Sam's Army

When Sam awoke, his hands crinkled the remains of dry, burned grass crumbled in his hands along with a small, hard clump of cold metal. Pushing his torso, he sat up halfway, facing into the slight wind, the breeze ruffling a burst of his bangs. He moved to brush back a stray strand, finding his hand weakly clutched at Dean's golden amulet. His fingers opened wide. The passing gust scattered the brown glass blades away, leaving only the idol.

He didn't recall getting it back, but it glimmered in his now open palm. Wrapping his fingers tightly, he compressed it so securely and so lovingly, the small protrusions on the idol burrowed punctures inside his hand. "Dean..." he choked out as pulled himself up fully, bringing his knees to his chest, holding the bleeding hand to his heart.

"Easy." Bobby delicately nudged Sam's shoulder. "It's all over now…."

It was just as well, Sam didn't notice him. His eyes darted over the desolate plain before him: The landscape merely a burned out end. "Dean…he saved me…"

"I know. When those flames came right out of hell, I thought…"

"I called them...controlled them… I wanted to use them…. I brought hell on earth."

"You saved humanity."

"Dean saved them… and I … I killed him… "

"He was already gone."

"I may not have delivered the final blow, but he...he knew. He died to save me. Why did he have to sacrifice again! Why did he always have to take all the pain!?" He cried as his voice trailed off, the words lost as Sam seemed to grow younger and younger, looking like the most lost man anyone had ever seen.

"Cause…. Just cause…he was stronger…"

"It's not good enough! Not for him."

"I know…"

"I tried to save him… I brought the flames here to restore him, but I think…it was too late…."

"We have to go now." Bobby spoke quietly. "All the demons are gone-dead- and I locked the gate." Bobby holds out the colt for Sam as a token. "I think Dean would have wanted you to have this back."

"I don't want it… I want…. Why couldn't I save him!? I had all that power and when I could use it..."

"When it had a'hold of ya… you never would have saved him."

"What good is it if I can call all the power and save him? I tried so hard at the end, and I could only watch him slip away. I demanded Hell to give him back to me… I'm going back there for him."

"I don't think he's in Hell anymore… otherwise he wouldn't have been able to stop you. He fulfilled his bargain…."

"He… he can't be gone….Where is he? There has to be something left….some part…"

"His body…. I don't know. That fired burned damn near everything. Would have toasted my rear had I not been by the gate." Bobby hated to tell Sam that even Dean's body may not be recoverable.

"Dean…he…god…" Sam rubbed the heels of his hands over his closed eyes, as if trying to erase the picture frozen for all of eternity- the final image of Dean blowing away like dust. Slowly he curled himself tighter. "I was in trouble…and Dean came to find me. He always comes to find me. He was protecting me again when…" And for the last time in his life, Sam lost his way. "We have to find…"

"We'll look. He deserves that much."

"He deserves more!" Sam screamed. "I was stupid. I let my anger and rage blind me and this is the consequences. I should have been stronger. He shouldn't have done this! I wanted to save him! WHY DID HE NOT LET ME!!"

"I know…that boy…" Bobby hesitated, not wanting to give up on Dean either. "Always had a bigger heart than sense. Come on, we'll look together." In a move that was more of dragging Sam up than helping him up, Bobby knew he had to get the broken man out of here. "He'd want us to go…"

Sam uncurled himself, moving towards the ruined graveyard. He staggered past Bobby, refusing to hear anymore. Even the tombstones seemed to have cracked under the intense heat. When the sky opened up with rain, he couldn't hold back his emotions. Maybe it was a way for the world to mourn the loss of Dean with him, he imagined. It seemed a fitting tribute- the world owed Dean more tears than it could ever pay.

They both soaked in the carnage of the powers that possessed Sam- the ruin, destruction, and death around them. Then a single form jutted out in the flatten, burned landscape. It was covered in what looked like ash, soot, and blood, but the rain has washed it clean enough to tell it was Dean's remains. Somehow, they had made it through the fires, but there was no comfort in that fact.

Bobby cradled Sam's head, trying to avert his gaze on Dean's lifeless body, but Sam pushed him away, slipping nauseatingly to his knees. Sam crawled forward, shrugging off Bobby's hand, stumbling even though he was already on his knees. Sam's hand stretched slowly towards Dean, until a finger brushed away some blood from Dean's face.

The form was eerily still and curled up on the still warm ground. All ideas of anything that resembled clothing had burned away, but neither man was shamed by the bare body. That thought was the furthest from their minds and hearts. All they could think of was why- Why did Dean have to die for the world to be saved. "He's gone. Dean's really left us… He's….he's dead." Bobby muttered

Bobby's words came as a background noise swarming around Sam's broken heart, and all he heard was "Dean and dead." He gagged at the sight of the tiny rivulets of blood rippling away from cleaning rain. Ripping his hand away as though stabbed, Sam retched, over and over, curling into a tiny ball beside his brother as he sobs.

Bobby's hand fell on his back, but it feels too much like comfort- too much like Dean when his big brother would make everything okay. Never again, he can't fix what's been broken. Pushing away, Sam buried his tears in his shaking hands, ignoring the emotional pain streaming through his body. Yet, he can't escape the shattering, unrelenting heartbreak. With a guttural scream, Sam threw himself over Dean's shoulder, clutching the still form to him as he rocked back and forth.

Bobby struggled to reason with the remaining Winchester, but Sam wouldn't listen. "We should bury…"

The only thing Sam understood was that Dean's dead and he will never see him again. They will never ride in the Impala. Never again listen to heavy metal. No more banter, road trips, hunts, pranks, bad takeout, crap hotel rooms, no one to love and be there unconditionally. He would never get the chance to say "I love you" or "thank you" to the person he loved the most, just like he never said those things to his father.

"I'll get a blanket….we can take him to where your Mom's buried. He'd like that."

"There's nothing left. His soul… he gave it all to me…" Sam sobbed openly, harder than he ever had. "God…no…. please…. "He wasn't listening to anything.

Bobby gave Sam few moments of privacy, finding a comforter in his old Mustang. When he returned, Sam was still rocking, unaware of anything but pain. When he attempted to physically move Sam, he wasn't strong enough to pull Sam away and only got a feral snarl from Sam when tried.

Bobby knew what awaited Sam. He can already see the years ahead because he had been there when he killed his wife. Had it not been for the Winchesters coming into his life, especially a blond haired, bright-eyed child, he would be exactly where Sam going: countless years of not eating, the lack of sleep, and the relentless nights of silent tear. Unlike Bobby, who still thought his wife's soul was free, waiting somewhere for him, Sam could never imagine that luxury. In this world or the next, Sam would always be on his own. "Come on. We… we need to get…"

Silent tears leaked, as heavy, red bags formed under Sam's eyes. "I need my brother," He answered in a tearstained whisper. All Sam can see was Dean's face, peaceful and resting- an empty shell with a forever lost soul. He almost fooled himself, thinking he saw a flicker of expression on Dean's face.

Bobby crouched down, covering Dean's lower half with the blanket, wishing it was to keep away the cold and not a way to hide the pain of losing him or a last gesture of honor. The move went unnoticed by Sam, who glued to the spot, letting blame gorge on him. Bobby, on the other hand, noticed something strange. The body was unmarred now, clean of cuts, bruises, and burns. And as the downpour continued, the only thing that changed was the blood and soot washing away. "Sam... Get back…"

"No… I can't…"

"His body! It was burned… and now!"

"I did it… I…."

"Get back, son. One of the demons must have hid….."

"No… I tried to…"

At first a facial muscle twitched, and then eyes peeked open, looking straight at Sam with panicked eyes. A second later, a hand pulled at Sam's shirt, trying desperately to hold on.

"Dean?"

"GET BACK!"

But Sam looked into Dean's eyes and wouldn't believe what Bobby was saying. His heart wouldn't let him. "It's him… him…. I did it… I really did…" Sam curled Dean up into his arms, embracing him closer, and rocked rocks back and forth.

"SAM! These demons!"

"It's him. He's in there." Amazement peeked at the corners of his mouth.

Without any more reasoning, the sight in front of Bobby incited a reaction as he pulled a bottle of holy water and the colt, cocking it and pointing it directly at the figure in Sam's arms "I can't believe you'd even try you demon bastard," Bobby growled. His strength and focus returned as the adrenaline and hate surged through his battered body. "It wasn't enough for you to kill him now you want to use him!"

"Bobby, NO!! It's him."

"Sammy." The voice was so soft and familiar.

Suddenly his eyes were full of tears and love. Sam let Dean slip back to a more comfortable position. A cry caught in his throat. "Dean….easy… I…"

"Can't be him! Can't be." Bobby tossed water on the body, bracing himself for the violent reaction, but none came. Dean's eye locked on his pseudo father and all in one instant Dean was saying thank you and help me. Bobby's arm shook in disbelief as the colt lowered, becoming loose in his grip. He took one last forlorn glance at the blonde haired man and the gun dropped from his hand. With one hesitant step, his tired body fell in a heap beside the brothers. The knowledge that Dean was alive slammed so forcefully he openly wept.

One look at Sam's face and the walls Dean has spent so much time building dropped. Sam sobbed as he jolted a deep breath from Dean with the tightest hug he had ever given. Dean rested a hand on Sam's shoulder, and then suddenly wrapped his arms around his baby brother, hugging him.

"I'm sorry… so sorry..." Dean muttered. "Sammy….I tried to tell you," Dean said softly, his hand clutching at the back of Sam's head. The words brought Dean's arms even tighter around Sam, as tight as he could manage.

"Dean," was wordless now with relief, but Dean nodded with understanding.

"It's ok. I'm here," Dean whispered, rubbing Sam's back, weakly and uncoordinated.

His big brother, one again, making everything seem okay. "You're here… really..."

"You saved me….saved..." Dean collapsed unconscious on Sam's shoulder. The energy still wiped out from battle. More words would have to be shared later. He would have to tell Sam that, ironically, the plans those demons made were destroyed by the hellfire they wanted Sam to use. Instead of bringing about the death of mankind, Sam had turned on them and in doing so, brought Dean back. He rose out of hell's ashes and destruction to reclaim the smallest part of him. For now, he was too tired to do anything but rest and breathe.

-x-xx-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-

Hours later….

Shooting up, Sam looked around frantically, his breathing ragged and raw, but within a second his eyes froze on Dean, who was curled up on Sam's knee in the back of the Impala. He vaguely recalled getting Dean dressed and safe, but not drifting off to sleep himself. Yet, a brown leather jacket was wrapped around Dean's torso and the necklace hung where it had always belonged. Dean was really home.

"Sorry, I didn't want to wake you, but we had to stop for gas." Bobby said as he shut the driver's side door. Obviously, he had just returned from paying.

"I don't remember going to sleep."

"Both of you boys were wore out. You almost passed out on me when we got him to the car. Figured I'd use the chance to drive Dean's baby…he'd never let me otherwise." Bobby tried to take some pressure away from Sam. "I'm taking you back to my place to hole up for a while till you're ready to get back in the game"

"Where's your car?"

"Uh…you pretty much charred it."

"Uh... sorry…I'm…I'm….so sorry."

"Don't be! It was worth the trade off to have him back. Just don't look too close at the Impala's paint job. We better give her a new coat 'fore he gets a chance to see it…. Unless you want to be skinned…"

"He can kick my ass as much as he wants..."

"Well, I warned ya."

"Bobby? The amulet glowed…when Dean … What is it anyway?"

"Damned if I know. It was just a hunk of metal in a bunch of charms. The only thing I knew was it was given to family when they took a hard journey so a part of them could always be together. You and your Daddy were always at odds. I figured it couldn't hurt to mend a few fences."

"But, I gave it to Dean. Why didn't you tell Dad…bust me out..."

"I gave it to you to give out of love. Dean seemed to need it more than John ever did. Do you know how proud he was of that damn worthless crap!?. You would have thought you gave him the world. He deserved it cause it came from your heart. There was no way I would interfere with that. And anyway, it was junk."

"What if this isn't over? What if the demon blood is still in me? I could be dangerous to you all. What if there is something inside me I can't stop it from getting out?"

"It's over."

"You can't promise me that."

"No, but I can promise we will take care of you… take care of each other. No more stupid deals…"

"Promise me something better. That if I go to that place again-cause Dean will never give up-promise me you'll take me down."

"I can't…"

"You're the only one that can. Dean will go to any extreme and this time I won't let him."

"I'll promise that you will never again be controlled by anything. How I choose to deal with it will be on my terms. And that is all the promise you'll get."

A slow moan sprang from the sleeping Dean. "Hey," Dean says softly, sitting up too, propping his back against the seat.

"Hey," Sam offered. "How ya feeling."

"Tired…drained."

"Then go back to sleep you, halfwit."

"Good to see you too." He mumbled back at Bobby.

Sam grew more pensive. "I've been thinking…. There's still so much out there."

"Always dangerous." Bobby offered. "But we'll get them."

"Exactly. The demon wanted me to lead an army, so I am giving them what they want. My brother and I will wage war on them like no one has ever seen. And for every person we save, there is another warrior in this. Someone who knows about the things out there. For every evil deed, those damn things will build our army."

"Count me in!' Bobby bantered.

Dean stared humorously at his brother. "Hey Shakespeare?"

"What? Are you hurting? Do you need…"

"Hurt- yes… But you could have spared us the Patton lets go to war speech. Can't you just say: hey, want to help me kick some ass? I'll give you the big gun."

"I….you…we just went through hell and you… you…you're busting my chops."

"It's my job."

"Yeah, it is." Sam answered so sincerely Dean had to smile, but it quickly faded.

"Whoa, okay Tonto. The Lone Ranger there is about to fall back over. Think we can save the inspiration speeches for later? And the smartass comments?"

Dean bobbled, feeling alien in his own skin and he had a feeling that everything would be much too foreign at the moment. Rest seemed so much better than the waking world for now. Sam wasn't waiting, but guiding him back to a horizontal position. The jacket wrapped around him comforted and warmed him back to the deepest part of sleep before he even stretched out.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Sam said as he noticed Dean's eyes shut.

"Yeah. I think he was raised tough as nails. Just needs to sleep for a month and a then a whole month in a beer cave." Bobby said a bit worried if things were actually going to be okay, but careful not to show it to Sam. "Hmpphhff..." Bobby laughed.

"Yeah, the idea of being surrounding by a walk-in fridge of beer will be too much for Dean. He might need two mon…"

"No… not that. I just… You boys caught the dark side in a catch 22. Dean went to hell and fulfilled his deal…and now they have no claim on either of you. He gave them a bit more than they bargained for and here he is alive and well. They wanted you to lead an army and now you are. Guess someone should have warned the demons to be careful what they wish for."

"And they are definitely going to get it." Sam said, pulling Dean closer, wrapping the jacket tighter. "And they'll be sorry for ever messing with my family."

* * *

-THE END-

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****Author's note: Thanks for reading. As always I love the feedback (the good and the bad) and appreciate the comments. (Even if I don't get a moment to respond to all of them) Anyway, off to write something else now….More updates and stories soon! **


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